CONSTRUCTION OF A RAIN GARDEN

Best Management Practice Demonstration Horse Farm

Construction of Rain Garden

Stormwater management is a growing concern for equine facilities.
Regulators are concerned stormwater runoff carries nutrients and pathogens from facilities into local streams and lakes.
Paddocks that are adjacent to barns at the Equine Science Center are a main area of concern.
The gutter/downspout system on the barn captures relatively clean stormwater runoff from the roof.
Downspouts discharge the runoff onto the paddock where manure is present.
Clean water runs through the paddock mixing with the manure, carrying pollutants off site.
Additionally, this system of managing roof top runoff makes for a muddy paddock, which can have negative health implications for the horses.
Rain water that lands on the paddock continues to wash soil and manure into a drainage ditch that discharged to a local stream, thereby threatening the health of this waterway.

The rain garden (or bioretention system) was designed and built to capture and treat the stormwater runoff from the paddock
A rain garden is a shallow landscaped depression that is designed to capture, treat and infiltrate stormwater runoff.
These systems use native vegetation and a planting media that is designed to infiltrate, thereby eliminating any threat of water ponding for more than a day or two.
In area where deep infiltration is hindered by clay or bedrock, these systems can be installed with an underdrain system consists of perforated PVC piping and stone.
The underdrain system is typically designed to discharge to a nearby swale or storm sewer system.
For the Rutgers Equine Science Center, a 10 foot wide by 50 long rain garden was design and constructe
The system did include an underdrain system that connected to the previously constructed rooftop infiltration trench system.
A sandy soil mix with a 10 to 15% organic content was used in the rain garden, which was covered with a three inch layer of hard wood mulch.
Native shrubs and grasses were planted in this mix including inkberry holly, winterberry holly, Virginia sweetspire, Arrowwood viburnum, Soft rush and Switchgrass.
Production of a material more homogeneous than manure
Since approximately 90 %of New Jersey's rainfall comes in storms less than one inch, the rain garden should capture and treat 90 %of the stormwater runoff from the paddock area

Laboratory experiments tell us that rain gardens are very effective at removing nutrients, sediment and pathogens.
As funding becomes available, the effectiveness of the rain garden at the Rutgers Equine Science Center will be te
In the meantime, the system will be used as a tool to demonstrate to the equine industry a simple and effective method of treating stormwater runoff from paddock areas.